In Clairefontaine, the captaincy of the French team at the heart of the discussions

For the staff, the challenge is also elsewhere, with the build-up towards these two matches, Israel in Budapest on Thursday and Belgium in Brussels on Monday. While the players arrived at 4 p.m., some of whom (Konaté, Thuram, Koundé) with spectacular outfits, there were only six of them – William Saliba, Warren Zaire-Emery, Manu Koné, Jonathan Clauss, Lucas Digne and Mattéo Guendouzi – to go jogging. Fourteen others were in the room. The last three, Christopher Nkunku, Randal Kolo Muani and Koundé, carried out a session with balloons, in torrential rain. The training was punctuated by a sequence of strikes (of uneven quality) against the solid goalkeeper of the France Espoirs team, Robin Risser.